iPhone and android phone users can now access FHRS ratings. The new ‘Food Hygiene Standards’ App can be downloaded free from i-Tunes or from the Google Play store.

Food outlets are inspected by the Food Safety Team to check that their hygiene standards meet legal requirements. The standards found at these inspections are rated on a scale ranging from zero at the bottom (which means 'urgent improvement necessary') to a top rating of five ('very good').

Food businesses in the city receive a sticker which they are encouraged to display at the entrance to their premises to make customers aware of their standards. Customers can then use this information to choose if they want to buy food from the outlet.

The frequency of food safety inspections varies from every six months to three years. We decide the frequency of inspection by the risk posed by the food business. We use a nationally agreed scoring process to calculate this risk.

We notify each premises of their rating in writing within 14 days of an inspection. Businesses can appeal and have a 'right to reply' to give their view on their food hygiene rating. Businesses can also request a re-visit and a re-score if they have made the necessary improvements.

Information for food businesses

If you are a food business operator and want to find out more about this process then please download

Open data on food hygiene ratings

Open access to ratings information means that the data is readily available and free for any third party to use. Developers can, for example, use it for apps or food businesses with multiple outlets can use it as a management tool to assess performance across their chain.Food Hygiene Rating Scheme data is also available via an application programming interface (API) in XML (this can be opened in Excel) and JSON formats.

Find out more

Join the conversation on Twitter. The hashtag is #FHRS – it's a good idea for tweets to mention @foodgov

If you have any queries about the national food hygiene ratings scheme then please follow the links above. If you feel your question is still unanswered please contact our Food Safety Team on (01273) 294416 or email ehl.food@brighton-hove.gov.uk.